A 36-armed octopus has made a public performance in an aquarium in southwestern Japan city.
Visitors that came to Saikai National Park Kujukushima Aquarium Umi Kirara in the Nagasaki Prefecture city of Sasebo were amazed as the animal skillfully made use of its 36 limbs of different sizes to catch meals.
(Photo : Serena Repice Lentini)
The 36-armed Octopus
As per the aquarium, a fisher who captured the octopus in waters off the Shikamachi neighborhood in the city at the beginning of June donated it. The sex of this octopus is still unknown.
The original eight arms of the octopus have bifurcated out, and the separate limbs also possess suction cups. After being chopped off by fish and other predators, the arms of an octopus can regenerate and in unusual cases, they can develop multiple limbs.
Origin
In March 2021, a photograph started circulating on social media that supposedly showed an octopus with an abnormal number of tentacles:
This is a genuine photograph of a 96-armed octopus and is on display at Shima Marineland in Japan. It appears that the octopus has about eight “main” tentacles that branch off into several smaller tentacles.
Pinktentacle.com reports that the octopus was discovered in Matoya Bay in December 1998. It was brought to Shima Marineland but died a few months after arrival. Since then, this unusual specimen has been on display at the aquarium.
In November 2020, after a nine-armed octopus was found by a fisherman in Japan, the Shima Marineland flexed its tentacle muscle and noted that it had a specimen that topped the recent discovery by more than 80 arms.